I create meal plans weekly to not only save money but to reduce stress. When I make my meal plan for the week I like to start the week with a casserole dish. My weeks don’t always go as planned, so it helps to have something that I can heat up quickly at home instead of going out to grab something. Since school started, casserole dishes make a big portion of my weekly meal plan. Between classes and work, cooking is the last thing I want to do some days. To shake things up each week, I explore different types of recipes but I do have a few go-to’s when I’m short on time. One of them being vegan tamale pie. It’s easy to make with simple ingredients.

Biscuits and gravy are something I never had prior to going vegetarian. It’s typically made with pork, and I don’t eat pork.  So it was something my mother didn’t make for breakfast. I’d see it on the menu when we’d go out to eat, and wondered what it tasted like. Now that I’m vegetarian, I’ve learned a lot about making substitutions in recipes. And I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen and creating plant-based versions of dishes I used to eat or haven’t tried. I haven’t been out to eat in months, and one of my favorite vegan restaurants added biscuits and gravy to their menu. But they were out of it by the time I got there. So I decided to try my hand at making it.

This savory with a hint of sweet vegan cornbread dressing is the perfect addition to any Thanksgiving dinner. Cornbread dressing is something I didn’t grow up eating during Thanksgiving. My parents would make it, and I wouldn’t eat it because I didn’t like the way it looked and it had celery. And back then I turned up my nose to anything with celery. So it wasn’t until I was an adult and made it for myself when I realized that wasn’t that bad. Once I became a vegetarian, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to have cornbread dressing on Thanksgiving anymore. Well, not the kind from a box or how it’s traditional homemade cornbread dressing. But, I could always create a vegan or vegetarian-friendly version, and that’s what I did. So here’s my vegan take on cornbread dressing that’s savory with a hint of sweet from the cranberries.

Being in college doesn’t mean you have to eat Ramen noodles every night or become a regular at your favorite fast-food restaurant. Eating out can be expensive when you’re in college. It’s also the not healthiest thing you can do for yourself while you’re working hard to achieve your college goals. You can still enjoy healthy and delicious vegan meals that are easy to make. Even if you’re new to cooking, and only know basics, these vegan meals are easy to make and are perfect for all skill levels. You can easily find all the ingredients at your local grocery store. So ditch the ramen noodles and ordering take-out, and get in the kitchen and cook yourself one of these five delicious vegan meals.

Sometimes my schedule is packed, and creating a meal plan from scratch can be overwhelming. I’ll sit for hours scrolling through Pinterest looking for recipe ideas without getting close to putting together a meal plan. So when it comes to meal planning, I like to keep things simple and save time with themed dinner nights. My favorite night of the week is Taco Tuesday because there is always a delicious Mexican recipe on the menu. Sometimes its tacos, and I experiment with different fillings. Or we’ll have my favorite taco filling and eat sweet potato tacos.